Lord_Driftalot:

@Whoopsy

it would have been unexpected had Hamilton won the title. Mercedes never did spent their developmental token this year, so the car is basically a 2020 car which was basically the 2019 car with the rear floor cut for the 2021 rule. It's amazing that he took a 2 year old car to within a few corners of winning the WDC. 

From where did you got this information? Merc did develop their car clearly since Silverstone, or what did I miss?

 

It had been widely reported all of this year actually. F1 tech talk (full version is behind pay wall on F1TV website), and various other motorsport outlets have covered it. Alpine was didn't used theirs, nor Haas. McLaren spent 2 tokens last year to change their tub to accept the Mercedes engine. Most teams did not fully develop their 2021 car simply because it is a stop gap year before major changes in 2022, a waste of money so to speak with a budget cap. Red Bull basically is the only team went all in developing their 2021 car until just about the end. They should be by all account will be starting on the back foot for 2022 as everyone else was focused on 2022 except them. 

You are confused about major changes vs in season little steps. 

Major changes require tokens, changing gearbox, tub, brake ducts etc requires tokens. Changing bargeboard designs, floor edge designs, front wing slots, rear wing profiles are freebie in season updates. 

Over the winter Mercedes developed something, but it didn't show gains so they abandoned the development and the tokens weren't used. The 2021 car is basically the 202 car with the rear floor cut out and some aero tweaks.


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